A SHEPSHED pensioner has spoken out after hearing the number 99 bus is to be cancelled in July.

The Arriva service, which currently runs every hour from Coalville through to Nottingham, will be stopped from July 12 and will be replaced with a new Arriva service, the 126, which will run from Coalville to Leicester.

It will mean anyone wanting to travel to Nottingham will now have to change buses in Loughborough.

One resident who lives off Fairway Drive but asked not to be named said she would be badly affected by the changes.

“I was told by a bus driver. I already have to get three or four buses if I have an appointment at the hospital in Nottingham, now I will have to get an extra one,” she said.

“And if my appointment’s at 9am what time am I meant to get up?

“There’s that many old people who need a bus, it’s just so annoying.”

Keith Myatt, spokesman for Arriva, said: “We have been consulting with our customers for several months. We had questionnaires go out on our buses and have gone through these. We looked at the feedback and the decision has been made to no longer operate route 99 due to a significant drop in the number of passengers.”

A Leicestershire County Council spokeswoman said another service to Nottingham, the X9, was planned to start on July 13 provided by Nottingham-based Premiere Travel Ltd, providing an hourly daytime service from Loughborough along the A60.